Manmade Mouse Stars In `Stuart Little'

December 04, 1999|By Iain Blair, Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

Only in Hollywood would a grown man spend two years of his life directing a film about a mouse. And not even a real mouse. The mouse in question is the famous fictional character, Stuart Little. But then director Rob Minkoff has had lots of experience with imaginary and mythical characters, including the lions in a little picture called "The Lion King," which he co-directed, the mermaids in "The Little Mermaid," and a toothy, wise-cracking fellow by the name of Roger Rabbit, with whom he made his directorial debut (the shorts, "Tummy Trouble" and "Roller Coaster Rabbit").

Now Minkoff is working with a new leading man -- or leading mouse, to be precise -- in the comedy adventure "Stuart Little," which is scheduled to open Dec. 17. Based on the classic book by E.B. White, the film tells the story of a plucky little mouse who is adopted by the Littles (Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki). He fits right into his new household, except for a small problem with the family cat.

"It's a great story with a lot of different levels," says the director. "Stuart knows that he looks different than other people, but it's not important. In the same way, it's not a story just for children. There's a lot more going on."

To convey this, Minkoff cast Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart, "because he has this great youthful exuberance that perfectly meshed with the character we were trying to portray," the director says. "That was the most difficult character to cast, as we wanted an adult voice that would sound childlike. So although Stuart is clearly a child, using a child's voice would have skewed it in a different direction.

"We cast Geena Davis for her quirkiness and sense of humor, which obviously fits with the profile of someone who'd choose to adopt a mouse," he adds. "The same with Hugh Laurie. We also needed someone who could stand toe to toe with Geena, and as he's actually 6-foot-2, he's even taller than Geena. Then Jonathan Lipnicki is bearably cute, and we cast Nathan Lane as (the voice of) Stuart's nemesis, the family cat Snowbell, as he has such comic presence, and we needed that to play against some of the more sentimental parts of the story."

So just how tough an assignment was this film for Minkoff?

"In its own way, it's much harder than the other films I've done. It combines two different art forms and techniques -- meaning live action and CGI (computer-generated imagery). And when you have to deal with doing both at the same time, that's when you face a unique set of challenges."

Not only are such challenges "a lot more labor intensive," he says, but "they basically mean you end up doing two films. First, you have to go through the whole process of shooting the film, and then you have to deal with all the CGI and effects. Sadly, you don't get paid twice, however."

Minkoff found the project appealing, "partly because of all the challenges involved. There's so much talk now about what's possible in film thanks to computers, and this was a great chance to show it..

"For me, it all begins with the actors who have to create a performance and reality opposite a character who simply doesn't exist onstage," says Minkoff. "Then there are two aspects to creating Stuart. The first and most important aspect is the performance, and, again, getting the acting right. The second aspect is that Stuart is rendered in a way that looks real in 3D and inside the scenes in the film, so that you never stop to question whether he's actually there or not.

"All three elements have to come together successfully to create Stuart, and as you can imagine, this took a huge amount of planning," adds Minkoff.

Pre-production included "a staggering amount of research and development," the director adds. "Techniques had to be created and adapted, just in terms of how the computers were going to be used and the programs they'd use to create the simulations. We also had whole teams of people focusing on all the elements, from Stuart's fur and clothing to lighting and performance animation.

"Then I'd look at each scene, and they (the teams) would go off and make any needed changes or fine tunings," says Minkoff. The result, he promises, is "cutting edge animation. We're taking digital animation and blending it seamlessly with a real world. So we feel what we've done is pretty revolutionary."